Vol. 5, No. 1
April 2000

How You Can Support Families

Connie Sizemore, director of Davidson (North Carolina) County's Fairgrove Family Resource Center (FRC), encourages social workers to remember that everyone has a powerful need to contribute to his or her family, community, and the world. Yet many families we work with often feel they have nothing to offer.

"If you're working with a family," she advises, "let them know you're learning from them." Even if it's a difficult Child Protective Services (CPS) case, she says, "If you're really paying attention, you're learning things that will be of use to you in your future work with other families. Let them know they are contributing."